Small Potatoes Make The Steak Look Bigger : Year Nine

It has been nine years already. Nine years of perspectives in gastronomical proportions. Did I imagine myself to be doing this for so long? No I did not. I didn't see very far ahead then when I started this blog and I still cannot see far ahead today after each year to a Nazgul. No, there're no auguries cast from chicken entrails or swirling tea leaves to be read of what comes ahead.

How long have you been hanging around?

Nasi lemak at Yishun 645

Yes, this was exactly the same coffee shop as the recent one with duck noodles. Pretty decently cooked nasi lemak if not one at the top of the game. I guess the rice was savoury enough. I'll pass on those over fried skinny chicken wings the next time for something else. This was another satisfying breakfast.

Cicheti, Kandahar Street

People give their restaurants different names for different reasons and mostly, it's for association. But what struck me about Cicheti (52 Kandahar Street, tel : +65 6292 5012) was how inappropriate the choice was. Not that it was offensive or anything. It's akin to calling your restaurant tapas or dim sum when you actually don't quite serve those. If you didn't now, cicchetti are little plates of snacks that are served in Venetian bars; little plates of snacks very similar to tapas or dim sum.

But I suppose after all these years, I'm past names. It is today a mere handle for reference. Any meaning behind them is no longer of much significant or even at all, lost in hubbub.

They have burrata on menu that came with prosciutto di Parma, grilled bread and fruit. The cheese was expectedly milky and light and the ham was quite moreish. Those grilled peaches, or were they nectarines, were a little more tart than sweet. But I thought the plate was enjoyable altogether. I would have liked more bread and fruit and less rockets.

This was their quattro formaggi pizza - a semi blistered chewy crust topped with fior di latte, ricotta, Gorgonzola and maybe Grana Padano. What elevated it was the honey you could request for on the side. Memories. Definitely worked salt from cheese and EVOO. Good for returns.

We tried their pappardelle al ragu because their rendition of the ragu used lamb shoulder. The meat was minced rather than shredded as we had imagined and didn't taste very much of the lamb. The rest sauce was quite ordinary. Not a candle to the awesome one I've had in Rome though hoping never hurt anyone. But - the homemade pappardelle was amazing. The springy textures of the eggy pasta was possibly the the best I've had so far.

And then, a cold smoked cheese cake to end. The smoked cheese was quite pleasant and the buttery crumbles were delicious, but the cake was otherwise not so impressive that we'll ever come back for seconds. Those shards of caramel tuile were quite nice initially, but the sweetness got to me after a while and they tend to get stuck on teeth.

Home made French toast porn

Yeap. Egg soaked wholemeal pan fried in butter, stuffed with cheese and Nutella. Dusted with a little cinnamon sugar. Hand crafted with love, or so the verbiage goes these days.

Ah Hoe Mee Pok, Clementi West

I've been wanting to come down to Ah Hoe Mee Pok (Blk 710 Clementi West Street 2) after reading about them earlier this year. Why so? The chef owner is a Naoji Kuribara, Japanese native doing local mee pok. Here's to adding of strata to authenticity and another story of another finance guy turned food stall owner.

How was it? I liked it. The flavour profile from the mix of sauces/oils was more balanced than most local rendition; which also meant that there was nothing very strong tasting. There was just a very mild heat humming at the edges and even the vinegar harmonised rather than dominated. That crayfish tasted fresh with flesh easily stripped off the shell while the abalone slices was surprisingly tasty. The ingredients were generally of good quality. And that large bowl of soup on the side - that soup tasted of crayfish and had almost as much lard as the bowl of noodles did. 

If I had to critique, I would have preferred a bit more bite to the mee pok. I just like a little more chew. But it was still a pretty tasty bowl the same.

A Lawry's cut with bone in

So here's a Lawry's Cut of their bone in prime rib. Also a first time trying their buttered peas. Wow, they're sweet.